Best No Bush

In response to Paco’s comment on Jahvid Best, yes, I pumped Best up quite a bit last week. Had a story in the paper on him comparing him to a young Reggie Bush. Also had several posts about him on the blog. You get some right, you get some wrong, in terms of jumping on a player’s bandwagon. I covered LeBron James when he was 15 at ABCD Camp, jumped on that bandwagon and that turned out okay. (That was a little bit easier call). I had done my research on Best, no question, talking to him, his high school coach at length, even making several calls to his parent’s home. I want to see if the kid was the real deal. I was impressed with his toughness on Saturday because he came back in the second half after a devastating hit in a very physical game. But I was underwhelmed by his on-field running performance. (He made more of an impact catching the ball) He may wind up being a star at some point, but he is not ready to have scintillating performances on a week-to-week basis, like Bush did at USC.

“We shut down their backs and forced them to pass,” Maryland defensive tackle Jeremy Navarre said. “We really showed ourselves. This was so good for our confidence. I feel so much better right now. We forced them to pass the ball. That helped them with sacks because we knew what they were going to do. Make them one-dimensional.”

Navarre said the Kevin Barnes hit on Best changed the complexion of the game and changed the momentum.

“We weren’t just playing, we were playing to hit,” Navarre said. “We were going to out-physical them.”

Here is what Best had to say after the game:

“I'm feeling alright, a little sore. It was probably the hardest hit I've ever taken in my life.”

(He said on that play they had called an audible at the line of scrimmage).

“We thought we had it called right, but they read it right and the defender came up and made a play. It knocked the wind out of me. I had a little trouble breathing the rest of the game.”

“(The Maryland defense) overloaded on the strong side and did a lot of blitzes.”

Okay, time to work on that 1,500-word story on the Eastern Michigan phenom, who has been compared to a young Randy Moss!! Just kidding.